The Great One
Banned
George Karlukovski who was the stuntman/choreographer of Submerged speaks out against Seagal.
I'm typing this up right now from the Martial Arts Illustrated July 2007 edition that I'm reading right now.
Q: You've worked with numerous action stars-getting hold of Steven Seagal, Vinnie Jones and Gary Daniels for one movie must have been some feat.
'Honestly it was a damn headache, the problem is Gary is a darling, a really nice dedicated guy who shows up on time, is talented and will give you everything. Vinnie thinks he is God's gift to fighting and Steven is well Steven.....scripts got changed at the last minute, there's a scene where Vinnie Jones dukes it out with Seagal, punching him about, bruising him and grazing him, im working on it with Vinnie and Seagal's stunt double Dian Hristov, then Seagal steps in and says 'This won't work, the audience won't beleive he[Jones] could beat me up like that'..I ask him what he means he says 'Exactly that it won't work, the hero can't get battered by someone who doesn't know the martial arts I do'...at this point Vinnie tries to calm the storm in his Brit accent joking 'Come on mate, I would give you a run for your money' and Seagal looks at him like death and says 'No you wouldn't'..then Jones turns away disgusted and mutters *beep* under his breath.
The director steps in but the fuse has been lit...next thing we know the whole scene has been written out. Vinnie is gossiping with his other Brit co stars how he 'can take Seagal' and everything goes haywire, Vinnie is doing his scenes and Steven is muttering and murmuring so much the boom mike can't pick up what he's saying-at one point I was really afraid they would get it on for real. It would have made for a better film I tell you
Q: Gary Daniels though was a different person to deal with?
'Yeah poor Gary was the lead villian until Seagal wrote him out, then at least he was promised a good fight scene with Seagal but seagal was against that too, Gary was saying 'Let me try this kick and this and this' and Steven says 'NO that wouldn't work, my character would kick your a*s and that's that'. Gary was unhappy and so was I: i mean how can i choreograph a scene that ends with Gary being beaten up in twenty seconds? It was hard and Gary held his pride I'll give him that.
Q: I've heard stories Seagal hits his stuntmen and beats them up?
'That's sort of true, him and Dian have a good relationship, but with me he was quite obstinate, at one point I had a big fellow to do this fight scene with him-a Russian wrestler-and Steven says 'This is not going to happen, the fight would be too one sided and it'll look fake'..only reason he said that was because the Wrestler was managing to hurt Seagal but gripping him too tight. So Seagal brought in one of his bodyguards-this big black guy and they did the scene themselves'
I'm typing this up right now from the Martial Arts Illustrated July 2007 edition that I'm reading right now.
Q: You've worked with numerous action stars-getting hold of Steven Seagal, Vinnie Jones and Gary Daniels for one movie must have been some feat.
'Honestly it was a damn headache, the problem is Gary is a darling, a really nice dedicated guy who shows up on time, is talented and will give you everything. Vinnie thinks he is God's gift to fighting and Steven is well Steven.....scripts got changed at the last minute, there's a scene where Vinnie Jones dukes it out with Seagal, punching him about, bruising him and grazing him, im working on it with Vinnie and Seagal's stunt double Dian Hristov, then Seagal steps in and says 'This won't work, the audience won't beleive he[Jones] could beat me up like that'..I ask him what he means he says 'Exactly that it won't work, the hero can't get battered by someone who doesn't know the martial arts I do'...at this point Vinnie tries to calm the storm in his Brit accent joking 'Come on mate, I would give you a run for your money' and Seagal looks at him like death and says 'No you wouldn't'..then Jones turns away disgusted and mutters *beep* under his breath.
The director steps in but the fuse has been lit...next thing we know the whole scene has been written out. Vinnie is gossiping with his other Brit co stars how he 'can take Seagal' and everything goes haywire, Vinnie is doing his scenes and Steven is muttering and murmuring so much the boom mike can't pick up what he's saying-at one point I was really afraid they would get it on for real. It would have made for a better film I tell you
Q: Gary Daniels though was a different person to deal with?
'Yeah poor Gary was the lead villian until Seagal wrote him out, then at least he was promised a good fight scene with Seagal but seagal was against that too, Gary was saying 'Let me try this kick and this and this' and Steven says 'NO that wouldn't work, my character would kick your a*s and that's that'. Gary was unhappy and so was I: i mean how can i choreograph a scene that ends with Gary being beaten up in twenty seconds? It was hard and Gary held his pride I'll give him that.
Q: I've heard stories Seagal hits his stuntmen and beats them up?
'That's sort of true, him and Dian have a good relationship, but with me he was quite obstinate, at one point I had a big fellow to do this fight scene with him-a Russian wrestler-and Steven says 'This is not going to happen, the fight would be too one sided and it'll look fake'..only reason he said that was because the Wrestler was managing to hurt Seagal but gripping him too tight. So Seagal brought in one of his bodyguards-this big black guy and they did the scene themselves'